Spelljammer Is Spelljammer Coming To D&D 5E?

Thanks to Stan Shinn over on Google+ for this scoop! WotC held a presentation at the GAMA trade show today, in which they covered both recent D&D performance (best year ever!), some previews of Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, and a small hint towards... Spelljammer?

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Here's Stan's report, direct from the trade show:

"Interesting Spelljammer and market news from the GAMA (Game Manufacturers Association) WOTC Seminar on March 13 in Reno (I’m there now).

Mark Price talked about D&D and showed some pictures from inside the upcoming Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes book. I have a few pictures (attached) prior to the Mordenkainen’s slides, but they asked us not to take or share pictures of the Mordenkainen’s book interior. They did show us a picture of a ‘Giff’ — a Spelljammer creature, which will be in the book. He looked like a steampunk hippo with a blunderbuss. Regarding why the creature was in the book, he said “I’ll let you speculate wildly about what that may mean.”

There was look of a wink in his eye so I’m pretty sure the hint was that Spelljammer is coming soon!

Other news from the seminar:

— 2017 was the best year for D&D ever in terms of sales
— Year 3 of D&D sales is stronger than their first year
— Actual play streaming is a key driver of D&D’s success, with 9 million users watching D&D on Twitch
— 8.6 million Americans have played D&D in the last 12 months (they did not give stats for overseas)"

It seems Xanathar's Guide was the fastest selling product in D&D history!

Wondering what Spelljammer is? Imagine D&D (2nd Edition) in space, except the ships are magic flying sailing galleons, and space is a "phlogiston" they can sail in with magical helms, and each world is in its own "crystal sphere", and all of D&D's settings exist in the same universe, and you can fly between them. Image above is of the AD&D 2E Spelljammer boxed set.

Of course, it might not be that. It might just be a monster entry Mordenkainen's Tome, and nothing more.

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[Kobold Boots]

I need some hard numbers on this. I'm struggling to believe that in the 80's it was so popular that there were cartoons, toys, and the books were everywhere and video games. Today it is selling better with almost no market presence outside of a very small number of books. Then in the 3rd edition era it was popular enough to spawn a movie (Which may be happening now to be fair). I suspect strongly that they're playing fast and loose with their metrics, I suspect that they're comparing non-inflation adjusted revenue to a sub-set of 80's products to get "Best ever!".

Internet>80's media marketing.

 

[Pandatheist]

Sadly, Al-Qadim has always been part of the Forgotten Realms, even in the original Arabian Adventures book, and it's always been an Ill fit. It came out during TSR's "let's cram everything into FR" phase.

So I wouldn't hold your breath. Even if they did it, they probably try to make it more Realms-y, which won't do it any favors.

I can’t believe I forgot this. We always played it as a self contained setting so I just assumed that was intended. The sadness is real!

 

[Pandatheist]

I ran a very successful Al-Qadim campaign in 5e! The box sets are rather cheap on ebay so I got ahold of the original book (arabian adventures) and a digital version of the monstrous companion as well as the boxed sets of Land of Fate, City of Delights, Golden Voyages, and Assassin Mountain. The PCs reaaaally loved going through the Crowded Sea in Golden Voyages. All the weird encounters and locations proved to be very popular. I actually made a quick and dirty set of 5e backgrounds and an inventory list for the campaign and put them on my blog here and here if you're interested. Monsters I converted on the fly from the monstrous companion.

You’re actually my hero.

 

[The Last Rogue]

I hate Spelljammer. Just saying... (Don't worry about me if it happens, though. Lots of other D&D still to be had. If this happens, I'll be happy for those who get what they want!)

 

[Azzy]

I hate Spelljammer. Just saying... (Don't worry about me if it happens, though. Lots of other D&D still to be had. If this happens, I'll be happy for those who get what they want!)

This is the Internet! You're not allowed to be happy for other people—especially if you don't get what you want.

 

[DragonBelow]

I hate Spelljammer. Just saying... (Don't worry about me if it happens, though. Lots of other D&D still to be had. If this happens, I'll be happy for those who get what they want!)

I wish more people had this attitude!

 

[Agamon]

I'd appreciate a return to Spelljammer, but consider this:

Neogi are in Volo's and Giff are in Mord's. If WotC were planning on releasing a Spelljammer book, wouldn't they put these guys in that, instead? They aren't going to assume anyone buying such a book has access to either of those books, so they'd need to reprint them...or do the book without those monsters in it.

None of these scenarios makes much sense.

 

[Azzy]

I'd appreciate a return to Spelljammer, but consider this:

Neogi are in Volo's and Giff are in Mord's. If WotC were planning on releasing a Spelljammer book, wouldn't they put these guys in that, instead? They aren't going to assume anyone buying such a book has access to either of those books, so they'd need to reprint them...or do the book without those monsters in it.

None of these scenarios makes much sense.

If WotC does a Spelljammer product, it will likely be an adventure (with an appendix that has rules for spelljamming, etc.). So, they'd probably just reprint the neogi and giff (if they appear in the adventure) like they did with the other adventures.

 

[Kobold Boots]

Sadly, Al-Qadim has always been part of the Forgotten Realms, even in the original Arabian Adventures book, and it's always been an Ill fit. It came out during TSR's "let's cram everything into FR" phase.

So I wouldn't hold your breath. Even if they did it, they probably try to make it more Realms-y, which won't do it any favors.

Sadly, I'd argue that any game set primarily in the Forgotten Realms without its DM making changes that suit the group in question, is a bad fit. The only person who that isn't the case for may be Ed Greenwood, and that's what I'd expect it to be. It's his baby.

This is said from the perspective of a guy that wouldn't have known what was necessary to build a compelling setting without going through multiple gray box versions of the Realms back in the day, so this statement comes with a great deal of fan boy nerd-dom for Ed. I just can't run anything in the realms without changing pieces of it everywhere.

Be well
KB

 

[Agamon]

If WotC does a Spelljammer product, it will likely be an adventure (with an appendix that has rules for spelljamming, etc.). So, they'd probably just reprint the neogi and giff (if they appear in the adventure) like they did with the other adventures.

This was done in other adventures? I'm only familar with Curse of Strahd and PotA.